Originally, theme.json was the only way to create styles in block themes, leading to overwhelming JSON files that intimidated developers. The good news? You can now accomplish 80% of styling through the visual styles interface in the site editor.
Access the styles interface through the site editor and use the style book feature to preview all core blocks while you work. This visual approach is much more intuitive than writing raw JSON and gives you immediate feedback on your design decisions.
The key workflow: always try the visual interface first, export changes to theme.json using Create Block Theme, then manually edit theme.json only for features the interface doesn’t support.
Critical warning: never manually edit theme.json and then export from the interface without reloading first – the export will overwrite your manual changes. Follow the proper workflow to avoid losing work.